You're listening to the litter box a Detroit
Tigers podcast with your hosts Chet West and
Bill Patterson Here's what's on deck for this
episode We knew that the bad days were gonna
probably hit us and they have it doesn't matter.
They're big leaguers They should have the advantage
at home. Oh, yes. There's a story there I think
he can end up taking a starting spot. Talk about
Detroit's very own Ballpark Franks. Litterbox
listeners of Your Detroit Tigers. It is your
host, Billy P. and Chet West. And we're coming
at you with a six game recap. And we're going
to talk a little bit about our Motown Kitties.
They're currently at sixty six and fifty. They
are six games up on your Cleveland Guardians,
which we will get to in a moment, but let's recap
really quickly what happened recently. Last Friday,
they lost five to four to the Phillies. The bullpen
was just bad. If there was anything good, it
was Torres's three RBIs. Moving forward to Saturday,
the Tigers won seven to five. Tarek Schubel was
again good, so was Colt Keith. Will Vest was
awful. Let's move to Sunday night baseball. On
ESPN, the Phillies took that 2 -0. Charlie Morton
was good. Jemai Jones was the most positive of
any of the bats, but overall the bats were bad.
Let's go to Monday's game. The Tigers won 6 -3
back at home at Coamerica. Karp hit a bomb that
was awesome. Kyle Finnegan showed why he was
a Tigers free agent wannabe. and definitely a
trade deadline acquisition. The other thing is
that Melton was pretty good. After that, I would
say two of the worst games the Tigers have played
have been the most recent two, which would have
been Tuesday. And today they lost 6 -3 to the
Twins. And it was just bad. Paddock was bad.
Montero was bad yesterday. And then today nine
to four Twins win. And Flaherty was bad. It just
didn't go good. He had five earned runs and only
4 .2 innings. And I guess outside of carp and
torque kind of upholding the offense, we're looking
at a team that's really hitting a skid. And if
you go, you know, last 10 games, last 20 games,
last 30 games, you're going to see a bar chart
or XY going in the wrong direction, which is
basically falling off a cliff. Chet, what say
you? First and foremost, we saw this coming.
Not to sit here and act like a Nostradamus one
and two here, but we knew this was going to happen.
It was just a matter of time. We knew they were
playing above themselves. We knew they were at
the peak. We knew that the bad days were going
to probably hit us. And they have. I mean, they
do still have moments where they look like a
capable baseball team. They're still in first
place. Still six games up on Cleveland as of
today, as of just now. I think there are some
glaring issues. You know, the Philly series,
I'll start there. They were competitive in all
three games and they went up against some very
good pitching in all three games. I would say
the best pitching they've gone up against. Easily.
All season save maybe the second Ranger series.
I could have walked away from that series with
the one win. and felt really good about it. And
we couldn't. We just couldn't because the twins
come to town. We get a home series against you've
got an injured animal in town and you can't take
advantage of them and get on the healthy train.
You got to lose two out of three and do it in
a fashion that really makes everybody question.
Where you're gonna end up at the end of the season
at the end of a series like this. It sounds ridiculous
It sounds extreme, but I can't watch our new
acquisition of Chris Paddock Go out and get shelled
in the first inning against his former team I
don't care how hard that is to pitch against
your former team. I don't care how hard is to
hit against your former team I don't you can't
go out and get shelled against your former team
who just gutted their roster I mean, you're talking
about a team of, you know, you got Royce Lewis
out there still, okay? He's not quite performing
where they'd like him to be. You got a young
guy like Brooks Lee who can do some damage. Luke
Kishol had a series to remember. He's their newest
and latest, greatest being brought up this season.
And, you know, the rest of the guys, I mean,
nobody didn't hit today. But have you ever heard
of Alan Roden? Have you, is Ryan Jeffers ever
struck fear in your heart as a hitter? How about
Edward Julian, who has spent most of the last
year and a half down at triple A, and Austin
Martin, who has struggled, who can't seem to
stop hitting against us likewise, even when he
comes in as a pinch hitter. It's sad to watch.
It's sad to watch Chris Paddock blow up. It's
sad to watch Tommy Canley not be able to figure
out the relief role for like the last month and
a half. We don't have answers and we didn't get
any answers at the trade deadline. It I can see
why the fan base I kind of wanted to play this
like let's be patient We're still the game. There's
still a team that got to 60 wins first. We didn't
get anything We got no value just like we said
there was no value to be had the trade deadline
Unless you gave up a lot we were one of those
teams that decided we didn't want to give up
a lot We think our prospects are valuable. I
think they're valuable other teams had valuable
prospects I mean Leo DeVries is nothing to sneeze
at and the Padres just shipped him out for probably
the best closer in the game and a starter. So
let me wrap this up. I just get, I get disappointed
when I see our bullpen blowing up to the tune
of nobody can seem to get anybody out consistently.
Our lineup, our best hitter, Riley Green. I mean,
we could probably reserve 10 minutes in this,
in this pod just to talk about him, but he got
benched against a righty yesterday. That is unheard
of. Didn't play. AJ just left him on the pine.
How did he respond after getting benched against
the likes of Pearson Oll? Yesterday, right -hander.
How did he respond? Came out today and struck
out three times 1 -0 for four. Way to go, Riley.
Way to show him you're the guy. Way to show him
you deserve that huge contract. No, thank you.
Sorry. I don't know who we sign and we extend
out of this batch because I'm not 100 % sure
I'm that confident in them. going forward. They're
not competing when the moment rises, when the
occasion rises. So, yeah, Bill, you can tell
I'm a little, you know, I'm waiting for Lions
season to start at this point. I can't see how
we hold first place. So on that note, let me
give a plug to our sister podcast, Litterbox
Lions. Check the new episode out tomorrow. And
with that, let me answer your questions. No,
I had not heard of any of those twins hitters.
And if I heard one more time from our announcing
duo, which I'm sorry without Jason Benetti, I
love Dan, but he Dickerson not not not not peaches.
He is just not Benetti and there's a little rigidness
and awkwardness between him and everybody. Like
Daniela seems not herself. Andy Dirks doesn't
seem himself and the team doesn't seem themselves.
Obviously that has nothing to do with it. But
if I hear one more time, hey, they've never seen
these pictures before because they've been in
double A and they've been in triple A check.
It doesn't matter. They're big leaguers. They
should have the advantage at home over every
one of these guys. And I am hot with you as well
for the fact that I look at this roster currently
as it's constructed one through 26. And I don't
think it's better than the roster that we opened
the season in Los Angeles with. We did not improve.
And I am just sitting here lamenting and ruining
the days when Bo Briski would march out in his
number four jersey and provide an inning and
two thirds of mow down baseball. Not swing and
miss, but he'd get guys out. And if I have to
see Tommy Cannelly go out there another time
and do what he's done the last 35 days. I, I'm
about up to here, which for those of you, you
know, what I'm saying is I'm at Shaq O 'Neill
height, you know, seven foot six inches. I'm
fed up. I just put six inches of fed up. It's
now. Okay. So let's take a breath. Yeah. All
right. I'm going to flip this around a little
bit. Kind of like you did last week. They still
are up six games in the division. They still
have many of the same players. They won those
60 games to start the season, kind of jumped
out and surprised everybody. Are we saying they
can't do it? No, not at all. I have no doubt
in my mind that they can circle the wagons and
get this thing to the postseason. I am, I think
one of the things that is frustrating. At what
point do you decide to start competing? When
do you decide to at least make one move to add
a competitive piece? I mean, Paddock is what
Paddock's been all season. I watched him pitch
live earlier this year against the Cubs when
they were in town and he got shelled. It was
like a home run derby out there. Then when I
found out we signed him and his three and eight
record or whatever it was when he came over to
us, I wasn't excited. I said, gosh, this is filler.
They signed a lot of filler. Hannah Fee got sent
down. I don't know if you saw that or not. And
Chase Lee, which should have happened. That should
have happened. Okay. Hannah Fee, I disagree with
Lee. Hannah Fee was struggling a lot. And the
guys up aren't? Well, I was just about to say
Hannah Fee got sent down. You could probably
pick from half a dozen guys at least that could
get sent down in that bullpen right now. Everybody
save Will Vest. And right now, Holton looks horrible
all of a sudden. What happened to Holton? Overutilization.
And they're not just overutilized? I think that's
part of it. I mean, I also think that this is
the third time, you know, they're facing the
twins and in terms of a series. And I mean, I
think the cat's out of the bag. You can use a
guy for an inning every series or maybe use a
guy. an inning and a half, three innings tops.
When you're pitching nine to 12 innings, the
third time you've seen a team, they've seen you.
They know everything you have. And we just don't
have guys that can get swing and miss. I think
what's really interesting about this series is
how our starting pitching put us in a hole so
early. I'm looking across at each one of these
games and we really, our starting pitching really
failed us. Absolutely most of these games between
paddock and Flaherty they gave up three or four
runs each to start the game off in the first
ending or two you can't do that and Expect to
have good outcomes. That's not gonna happen I
sit here and I look at like, you know paddock
three runs in the first inning yesterday really
Against that lineup. Come on now. I think you're
being I don't want to say hard on him per se
I'm more disappointed in Flaherty because I thought
today would be for your number two starter, what
they're paying him, whether we want to argue
whether he's a number two starter or not. We've
done that all season. He's not, he's a four or
five. The fact is today was the day to put a
stop in it. It's a getaway game. So it's a midday
game. America drew well. The weather looked nice.
It wasn't too hot. It wasn't too hazy. The Canadian
wildfire smoke has been, you know, penetrating
Michigan and all that. I'm not making excuses,
but I'm just trying to paint the picture for
those that didn't watch. It was a glorious day
in downtown Detroit and Jack Flaherty just didn't
have it yet again. And where I'm getting concerned
is the same front office that traded Jack Flaherty,
then re -signed Jack Flaherty, then just, I mean,
fortunately they didn't decimate the farm system,
but brought in a lot of dumpster dive. in the
way of pitching both relief and starters, I'm
dubious at best. Let's just say that. I tell
you what, though. I enjoyed watching Troy Melton
pitch yesterday for two innings. Yes. There's
a story there. I think he could end up taking
a starting spot from somebody. But the way he's
pitched his last couple of times out. They just
picked up Morton so they could move him to the
bullpen. That won't last. Okay, we'll both know
that's not gonna last. Let's see. So I guess
the good news going forward is a lot of teams
below 500 upcoming the Tigers still have three
games against your Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles
or whatever they're calling themselves who surprisingly
were buyers at the deadline even though they
are uh, well below 500 at 55 and 59 going into
tomorrow or excuse me, Friday's game. We do have
Scubal on the mound. So that might be nice to,
you know, get a win in game one and then kind
of proceed from there. Uh, you've got Morton
game two and then you've got Mize game three.
And then what I think is going to be interesting
is the Tigers then traveled to Chicago to play
not the Cubs, but the White Sox who have been
playing better baseball, but still. are the worst
team in the American league. And then from there,
they go to Minnesota to face the twins again,
come back home to face the Astros. So basically
they've got three series against teams that are.
They had a nine games and nine games in a row
against scuffling teams. Yeah. And I think it's
all there ahead of them. After that, it gets
even better for the fact that it's Royals Athletics
Royals. Yeah, and after that they don't have
to go west again That is as far west as they're
traveling for the rest of the season to Sacramento
to play whatever you want to call the athletics
Vegas Oakland, whatever and then to Kansas City
Kaufman and then come back To your point on the
trade deadline if I can just circle back on yeah,
go ahead I do think Oakland was the biggest or
whatever Sacramento Las Vegas the biggest winners.
I also think that San Diego one by getting Mason
Miller and other returns there. Oakland's and
the athletics are in a very different position
than the Tigers are for the fact that they're
in the bottom of their division by a long shot.
They have a good crew of young hitters upcoming,
add to it. got a, let's not say bonafide, because
we never know with prospects, but they got one
of the top three prospects in baseball. And things
look really, really bright for them on the deal.
But the fact is, I think the Padres look really
good as well. And if I had to judge it overall,
I wish the Tigers had been more aggressive. I
was a bit. I don't want to give away the farm.
We talked about that. We didn't want him to give
away the farm. Not Padres aggressive, but but
they didn't get any anybody. Now, maybe that's
because again, I think that one is invaluable
enough to get and Finnegan's been great so far
He's converted both his save efforts So that
one signing that we said was the only signing
that would probably make yeah that we were excited
about so again I think you know August is gonna
tell us everything but if for whatever reason
chat the Tigers are neck -and -neck with the
Guardians at the end of this month. I'm saying
right now Put up the red flags push panic buttons
this team will not make the playoffs I just don't
see him circling the wagons after they lose this
lead I don't seem circling like they need to
stay out there as far as they can they need to
win every game against beatable teams I mean,
I just you play the twins again. You need to
get two out of three at least You're going to
go play the Angels. You need to get two or three
from the Angels. Got to start winning series
again. And they haven't done that in a while.
No. So I think we're aligned in that. I think
we're both aligned in the fact that we're glad
that top prospects were held on to. I still think
they could have dipped into the back end of the
top 10, maybe 11 through 12. I know. Technically
in some you know circles they traded 13 or 14,
but here's the fact they needed to do more and
it's and I'm looking at this team and I feel
like They don't seem like the same group Because
they're not they're different individuals than
they were You know that won the first 60 games
and it's interesting that they were the first
team to 60 if they get to 90 I bet they'll be
the last team to It's possible. It's very possible.
And, you know, what scares me is I think our
division, if they allow the Indians to creep
back in, KC is going to keep surging too, probably.
Our division becomes very competitive all of
a sudden. And I'm not sure they can hold up.
That pitching staff's not going to hold up against
two surging teams. I mean, it's about ebb and
flow, right? So if we're ebbing when they're
flowing, we got a problem. And so I'll be curious
to see if they can circle the wagons earlier
rather than later, because it may be too late
by the time they do. They could go from first
to third and out of the playoffs real fast. I
hate to say it though, it sounds drastic, but
the way they've been playing for the last month,
I mean, we kind of said, if you're going to have
a bad run, have it right after the All -Star
break, but this bad run's gone on for a while,
it seems. And some of these, some of this is
ugly. It's not like they're winning that many
games close. I mean, it was great the flag. I
said Philly series made me feel a little bit
better. Even though we lost to we're close twin
series. I'm looking back on what happened. Yeah,
how do we just go flat like that out of nowhere?
Yeah. Yeah. No, I felt good after the Phillies
as a fan. You say you're screaming your head
off. You try to stay level headed. But all right.
On another note, since we don't have a way ballpark
food to talk about, I thought I'd talk about
Detroit's very own ballpark Franks, which that's
part of the segment of the day is coming up right
here and wanted to not hear us cry. Just fast
forward to this 20 minutes in. So I always wondered
what the association with ballpark Franks and
the tigers was. And so I did a little Google
dive today and found out that it is Detroit's
like very own and they were the one to kick it
off. And so basically Ballpark Frank is the most
consumed hot dog in the United States of America
with over 91 million consumed in 2020. In 2020?
Yes. In 2024, they were the leading seller of
retailer, which means refrigerated Frankfurters
with US sales of 222 and change million. And
Oscar Mayer, who we associate with being kind
of a Goliath in the hot dog market, was almost
100 million behind with 136 million. So originally
it was Tyson Foods, Sarah Lee bought them. The
history is this. In 1957, High Grade Food Products,
a Detroit based meat packing company owned by
the Sloatkin family under the direction of Hugo
Sloatkin. the CEO of it, acquired the exclusive
contract to supply hot dogs at Detroit's Briggs
Stadium, which became Tiger Stadium. In response,
their sausage maker decided to do a specific
formula that incorporated veal in a much finer
emulsion, meaning the grinding of the beef, pork,
veal products, which created a larger one eighth
of one pound hot dog in contrast to the park's
previous one tenth of one pound offerings the
product's popularity soared and in 1959 one year
later it officially became known as the ballpark
Frank it kept building in 1965 the company's
tagline took on they plump when you cook them
why the feel in it And that was developed by
the WB donor agency. Think Mad Men Detroit style.
Then the product was launched nationally and
it became the biggest hot dog. Obviously, you
know, citing the statistics that I'm stating
that we've seen. Interestingly enough, in 1985,
a Cincinnati schoolteacher by the name of Bob
Wood decided to visit every major league ballpark
one summer and he rated the ballparks on one
condition. Do you know what condition that was,
Chet? The level of hot dog that they're shooting.
Yeah. His 1989 book, Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks
and all the wieners in between. Guess what he
ranked number one? A ballpark Frank with a little
mustard. Served on the stick is a dream fulfilled.
Served on a stick. Okay. No remember they used
to take the tongue dispensers like at the old
school doctor's office and the vendors had a
big vat of mustard from your steamed wiener and
then they'd slap it on and he said it's a dream
fulfilled and proof that worthy experiences never
die in the tradition of a fine baseball park.
I find it fascinating that they plumped because
they had veal in them. Does veal have a plumping
agent in it that causes some sort of massive
girth to the dog? I am not a food scientist.
I'm just going off of what Google said. I think
it's the veal and the emulsion. I think there's
also something else that's added. I'm wondering
if men will start getting veal injections after
listening to our podcast. Definitely. I think
that's done probably. You and I are scheduled
the advertising for that. Yeah, you and I are
scheduled for early October. I want to throw
something at you. So now that we do these food
things, now that we do these food things for
veal injections, of course, veal injections.
I'm going to get my lips done first, right? So
I can look like everybody on Love Island. Exactly.
So now that we do these food things, I get I
constantly get. texts, Instagram messages, all
sorts of things from various listeners when they're
at the ballpark and they're eating a dog. I got
one this past week from my friend Glenn Fettig.
He is out in Seattle. He's out at Safeco this
past weekend and he sent me a picture of their
sumo dog. Their signature style hot dogs. I just
want to read a few of these things to you here.
Sumo dog runs 14 and a half bucks. There's a
Mariner dog that that's kind of a no frills,
just a great dog. That's exactly how they describe
it. That's at nine bucks. The no frills, just
a great dog is probably the one I'm ordering
nine times out of ten. They have a sumo chili
and cheese and a Godzilla dog. The Godzilla,
they call it. These are all 15, 16 dollar hot
dogs. You can get sides of chili and cheese,
some miso mustard coleslaw. In case you ever
wanted to have any of that. Sounds delicious.
What makes a sumo dog a sumo dog? Is it bigger?
Well, I'm not 100 % sure, but at the bottom it
says it's Japanese inspired. Then they have the
pictures of it, and it just says, happiness is
a warm bun. And the sumo dog appears to have
seaweed on there, shredded seaweed. Nori. Yeah,
nori, as one would call it. All sorts of just
junk on this dog. Now, I'm betting it tastes
wonderful. Don't get me wrong. What did he say?
What did he pay? No, what did he say? Did he
love it? Here's his review. I'm going to give
it to you. It was lovely. Soft bun. Good toppings.
Delish. Glenn, if you're going to do this, I
need more. I need a video of you eating it. I
need to see it spilling down the front of you.
I need a little more out of you than that. I
want some. Did you have the Godzilla? He says
sumo chili cheese. Very good. Well, he skipped
the miso mustard. He skipped the miso mustard.
He skipped it. Yeah, I don't think he went for
the miso mustard coleslaw. You know, but what
I see when I see this menu is you can have lunch
for forty dollars at Safeco, apparently. That's
a beer is sixteen for a premium draft beer and
a dog is sixteen. And if you throw the coleslaw
in there, you're at about 40 bucks with tax,
probably. So you want a mochi? That's $4 for
a little mochi puck. That's insane. I hope the
dogs were good. I would have just had the regular
old Mariner dog, personally. I think that's where
I would have gone. The rest of it looks like
a mess. I don't know that I want Nori on my hot
dog. A little exotic for me. But thanks, Glenn,
for shooting these pictures over and giving us
your experience here. And I hope you had a good
time at Safeco. But that was, you know, we get
these people writing and sending us food stuff.
Yeah, I'm fascinated by most of it, but I need
videos of you housing these dogs and making a
slob of yourself. And if any listeners know why
the ballpark Frank plumps, please let us know
because that would be good to know. I thought
you just said it's the veal. According to the
website, but we don't know that. I mean, I'm
sure it's an additive. It's an additive. It's
veal additive. I start putting it on all my foods.
Does veal plump when you bake it? Does it make
you plump in the right way? I don't know. Anyhow.
I don't want to plump. I'm already plump in some
places. Like, we'll plump elsewhere and not everywhere.
With that, Tiger fans, let's hope that we have
a really, really strong series against the Angels.
We need. We will be back with you series by series
going forward, and please tune in to our sister
pod, the Detroit Lions Litterbox, which will
be released before this Friday's game against
the Atlanta Falcons. We got real creative with
the name of it. Litterbox, a Detroit Lions podcast.
It might sound... Like another podcast you know
and love, Litterbox, a Detroit Tigers podcast.
We just swapped out the Lions and the Tigers.
Got to build the brand. Got to build the brand.
All right. Have a good one, folks. All right.
That's going to do it for this episode of the
Litterbox, a Detroit Tigers podcast. Thanks for
hanging out with us. We're Bill and Chet. We'll
be back soon with more Tigers Talk. If you're
enjoying the show, be sure to follow or subscribe
on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. And hey, if you got a minute,
leave us a quick review. Till next time, Go Tigers!